


No and Yes

by miera



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-06
Updated: 2011-04-06
Packaged: 2017-10-17 16:04:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/178553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth discovers what happened during "The Tao of Rodney."</p>
            </blockquote>





	No and Yes

All her life, Elizabeth has gotten cold after sex. Only in the most extreme of temperatures (her tiny apartment in Boston that had no air conditioning and a July heat wave that killed the power and left her and her boyfriend with little else to do) does she not need to pull on clothes within a few minutes. Ronon knows this by now, so he doesn't protest when she slips out from underneath him to snag her sweatshirt off the back of a chair. He just grumbles and collapses flat onto his stomach. He's also learned to pull the covers down before either throwing her onto the bed or falling onto it and pulling her on top, so she yanks the blanket back up as she climbs back in.

The bed is small, and Ronon is very much not, so she has no choice but to stretch out on top of him, one leg in between his thighs. That earns another grunt, but of approval this time. She doesn't really mind it herself.

He doesn't have the same problem with the cold. He just gets drowsy after sex, which is why his upper body is completely bare. Elizabeth runs a hand over his back, enjoying the firmness of muscle and smooth skin, when she realizes something. "Ronon?"

The scars are gone.

"Hmm?" He twists his head, his face half-hidden under his hair. She places her hand against his shoulder, where the tracking device had been implanted in him not once but twice. Where he had carried several scars from unsuccessful attempts to remove it. She can't imagine the pain that had involved without anesthetic.

Still foggy from the sex, it takes him a minute to figure out what she means. Finally he mumbles, "McKay."

Rodney had healed the scars. "Why?" she blurts out. Of all the things...

Ronon's shoulders shift under her, nearly making her lose her balance. "He was making peace."

"Oh," she says inadequately. Come to think of it, what else could Rodney, even with superpowers, have offered Ronon? The book about her, Rodney's equivalent of a "small token," still makes her blush at the size and content and the blatantly partisan and adoring tone of the parts she's brought herself to read so far.

Ronon has pushed himself up on one elbow. "Does it bother you?" he asks, looking more awake now.

There's a hint of wariness in his eyes. "I was thinking it might bother you," she says honestly. She's always been honest with him. One lie and she'd lose him forever, not just as a lover but as a friend.

"Doesn't change anything."

That much was true. What he went through at the hands of the Wraith went far deeper than scar tissue.

Her fingers trace his shoulder blade again and he stiffens under her, and not in a good way.

"I told you I don't want your pity," he says. His voice is flat and she flinches. She's never been truly afraid of him when he growls or snaps at her, but she knows that when he's genuinely upset, he doesn't do those things. He goes stark and emotionless and dead and she hates that, hates it more than anything, because for all his seeming simplicity his heart has always been fairly open to her in particular.

He could simply toss her to the ground and get up. She might be on top but her weight isn't any kind of serious deterrent. He doesn't, though, because he's not capable of being so harsh with someone he really cares about. Not physically, anyway.

Before he can come up with some other way to extricate himself from her bed, Elizabeth bends down and brushes her lips against the now-smooth skin. "Not pity," she breathes out. "Sympathy." A longer kiss, closer to his spine. "Respect."

Ronon relaxes and grabs hold of her arm. She still can't quite figure out the physics of the move, but he neatly manages to flip onto his back while keeping her from falling off the bed. She is straddling him again, but face to face now, and his hands slide up under her shirt.

"It was a gesture," he says, going back to Rodney. She thinks she understands. "It's not like I don't have other scars," he teases her with a slight smile.

His attitude and straightforwardness about the whole thing make her heart ache a little, because she wants to keep him from getting hurt ever again and she knows that violence and danger are part of who he is. Instead she lays down, her cheek against his chest and sighs. "Let go of your burdens," she whispers, remembering what she said to Rodney.

Ronon's hands tease lightly up and down the base of her spine. "Good advice," he rumbles under her ear.

She chuckles, snuggling contentedly against his warmth. She inhales his scent and lets it imprint on her memory. When she breathes out, she tries old meditation techniques and lets her thoughts fade, so that the only thing in her mind is the feeling of his hands, stroking her skin languidly. She focuses on his heartbeat under her cheek, the tingle of nerve endings as his hands move lower, fondling her ass with that same unhurried pace. She isn't even aware that she's started moving against him until one warm finger penetrates her gently and she shudders and feels his erection against her thighs.

They keep going, Elizabeth holding herself up slightly with her hands, but her upper body still snug against his. Usually, Ronon will move her, pull her down or push himself into her, but she's grateful he doesn't this time because she's happily lost in how good this feels. Instead they kiss intermittently, deep lazy kisses that match the easy rhythm of their bodies.

His fingers keep playing with her and his abdomen is solid enough against her vulva that she's getting close to coming. He does first, though, muttering her name as he bucks against her weight. It's feeling his hot fluid splashing across her ass and his own fingers that makes her come in a long, breathless spasm of release.

The need to stretch her knees makes her finally move. She falls gracelessly to the side, still half on top of him, wincing a little as her legs protest being cramped so long.

Ronon tucks the blanket over her thoughtfully. "What'd he give you?" he asks.

Her cheeks heat. "He wrote a book, about me, my life."

Ronon raises an eyebrow. She's not sure if he picked that one up from her or Teyla. "He loves you, you know."

"I know." She's always known. Rodney, Carson, Radek, even John, all of them care about her more than just as colleagues, or even normal friends. Which doesn't mean anything, but means everything to her. "I love him, too." Ronon's arm tightens about her almost involuntarily and she pokes him in the ribs. "He's family."

He turns onto his side, so they are face to face. "Like me?" There's a tiny hint of vulnerability in his eyes and she can't help but smile a little enigmatically.

"No, and yes," she says, leaning forward to kiss him.


End file.
